CAT 2026 Registration Statistics: Total Applicants, Year-wise Trends & Competition Analysis

CATKing is a Mumbai-based MBA entrance exam coaching company founded by Sumit Singh, offering preparation for CAT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP, CET, GMAT, and GRE through online and offline classes. CAT 2026 registration closed on September 22, 2026, and a wide range of registration figures are already circulating online — from early-September counts as low as 1.30 lakh to closing-week reports of 3.08–3.27 lakh. This article separates what IIM Indore has officially confirmed from what third-party sources have reported or projected, and sets CAT 2026 against the last several years of registration and attendance data so aspirants can judge the real scale of competition.

Key Takeaways

• As of this writing, IIM Indore has not released the final, official CAT 2026 registration count — every current figure in circulation is an interim or third-party-reported number.

• Third-party trackers reported CAT 2026 registrations crossing roughly 3.08 lakh by September 21 and 3.20 lakh by the September 22 deadline, with projections of 3.25–3.30 lakh once final data settles.

• CAT 2025, the last fully confirmed cycle, recorded 2.95 lakh registered candidates and 2.58 lakh appeared — an attendance rate of about 87.5%.

• CAT 2024 recorded 3.29 lakh registered and 2.93 lakh appeared, the highest registration count of the recent cycles.

• Registrations peaked at roughly 3.29–3.30 lakh in 2023–2024, then fell to 2.95 lakh in 2025; where CAT 2026 lands relative to that peak will only be clear once IIM Indore confirms the final number.

• Based on historical 85–89% attendance rates, CAT 2026's actual test-taker pool is likely to land somewhere between roughly 2.5 lakh and 2.9 lakh, depending on the final registration figure.

CAT 2026 Registration: Official vs. Reported Numbers

This distinction matters more than it might seem. CAT 2026 registration closed on September 22, 2026, but IIM Indore has historically not published a same-day final tally — in past cycles, the confirmed registered-versus-appeared breakdown has surfaced closer to the exam or result date. In the meantime, exam-prep portals and coaching platforms have published their own running counts and projections, and these numbers differ from each other because they are pulled at different points in the registration window and rely on different tracking methods. None of them are an official IIM Indore release. The table below lists what has been reported so far, clearly separated from the pending official figure.

Note: Figures above are third-party reported or projected numbers, not confirmed IIM Indore data. This table will be updated with the official CAT 2026 registration count once IIM Indore releases it.

CAT 2025 vs. CAT 2026: How Do the Numbers Compare So Far?

CAT 2025 closed with 2.95 lakh confirmed registrations, of which 2.58 lakh candidates appeared. Interim CAT 2026 tracking already crossed that 2.95 lakh mark before the registration deadline, with closing-week reports in the 3.08–3.27 lakh range. If the final CAT 2026 figure holds anywhere near the upper end of that interim range, 2026 would mark a return toward the 2023–2024 peak after 2025's decline. If it settles lower once duplicate or incomplete applications are excluded, as sometimes happens between interim and final counts, 2026 could still land close to the 2025 level. Either reading requires IIM Indore's confirmed number to state with certainty.

CAT Registration and Attendance Trend: 2022–2026

The table below tracks confirmed registered and appeared candidate counts for the most recent completed CAT cycles, alongside where CAT 2026 currently stands.

Sources: Figures for CAT 2022–2025 are drawn from CAT information bulletins and established CAT-tracking publications; the CAT 2026 row will be updated once IIM Indore's official figures are available.

Registered vs. Appeared: Why the Gap Matters

Every CAT cycle sees a meaningful gap between candidates who register and pay the fee and those who actually sit for the exam — typically 11 to 15 percent of registered candidates do not appear. This gap matters for two reasons. First, it means the real competitive pool on exam day is smaller than the headline registration number, which affects how percentiles and section-wise normalization work across sessions. Second, tracking the attendance rate over time — not just the registration count — gives a more accurate read on genuine demand, since a portion of registrations each year come from candidates keeping CAT as a backup option alongside other exams or job offers.

Is CAT 2026 Registration Growing or Declining?

The confirmed multi-year trend shows a sharp rise followed by a pullback: registrations jumped from 2.55 lakh in 2022 to 3.30 lakh in 2023, a roughly 29% single-year increase, then held nearly flat at 3.29 lakh in 2024, before falling about 10% to 2.95 lakh in 2025. Interim CAT 2026 numbers reported through the registration window suggest the count is running ahead of where CAT 2025 stood at a comparable stage, which points toward a possible rebound — but until IIM Indore confirms the final figure, this remains a trend read from unofficial data rather than a settled conclusion.

The Longer-Term CAT Registration Trend

Zooming out, CAT registrations have grown substantially over the past two decades, from roughly 1.70 lakh candidates in the mid-2000s to a peak in the 3.29–3.30 lakh range in 2023–2024, according to long-run trend analyses published by established CAT-tracking sources. Year-to-year figures in that longer window vary somewhat across publications and are not all independently confirmed here, so this article focuses on the 2022–2026 window above, where registered and appeared figures are more consistently reported, rather than reproducing an unverified year-by-year table stretching back twenty years.

What Do These Numbers Mean for CAT 2026 Aspirants?

• A test-taker pool in the 2.5–2.9 lakh range keeps CAT among the largest and most competitive MBA entrance exams in India, regardless of which end of that range the final figure lands on.

• Because CAT is held in three sessions, scores are normalized across sessions — a larger or smaller total candidate pool does not change an individual's need to perform relative to their own session.

• The widely cited estimate that only about 2% of CAT candidates convert into an IIM seat underscores that raw registration numbers matter less to an individual candidate than percentile performance within their own session.

• A registration count higher than 2025 (if confirmed) would suggest slightly more competition at the margins for borderline percentile cut-offs; a lower count would suggest the opposite — but neither materially changes how a candidate should prepare.

Expected Number of CAT 2026 Test-Takers

Combining the interim CAT 2026 registration reports (roughly 3.08–3.27 lakh) with the 85–89% attendance rate seen in CAT 2024 and CAT 2025, the number of candidates actually appearing for CAT 2026 on November 29, 2026, is likely to fall somewhere between approximately 2.5 lakh and 2.9 lakh. This is an estimate built from reported, non-official registration data and historical attendance patterns — not a confirmed figure — and will be updated once IIM Indore releases both the final registration count and, after the exam, the confirmed appearance number.

Is State- or City-Level CAT 2026 Registration Data Available?

Not officially. IIM Indore publishes the list of roughly 170 CAT 2026 test cities so that candidates can select their five preferred cities at registration, but it does not publicly release a state-wise or city-wise breakdown of how many candidates registered from each location. Any city-level or state-level registration numbers circulating online are not sourced from an official IIM Indore release, and this article will not reproduce unverified figures of that kind. If IIM Indore publishes such a breakdown in the future, this page will be updated accordingly.

Frequently Asked Questions About CAT 2026 Registration Statistics

How many candidates have registered for CAT 2026?

As of the September 22, 2026 registration deadline, third-party trackers reported interim figures of roughly 3.08 to 3.27 lakh. IIM Indore has not yet released the final, official count, so these numbers should be treated as reported estimates rather than confirmed data.

Has IIM Indore released the official CAT 2026 registration number?

No. As of this writing, IIM Indore has not published an official, confirmed CAT 2026 registration count. Final numbers have typically been disclosed closer to the exam or result date in past cycles.

How does CAT 2026 registration compare to CAT 2025?

CAT 2025 closed with 2.95 lakh confirmed registrations. Interim CAT 2026 reports crossed that figure before the registration deadline, reaching roughly 3.08–3.20 lakh+, though the final CAT 2026 number is not yet confirmed.

How many candidates are expected to appear for CAT 2026?

Based on CAT 2024–2025 attendance rates of about 87–89% and interim CAT 2026 registration reports, the expected number of test-takers is roughly 2.5 to 2.9 lakh, pending the official count.

What is the typical registered-to-appeared ratio for CAT?

Roughly 85 to 89% of registered candidates have appeared for CAT in recent cycles — 87.5% for CAT 2025 and about 89% for CAT 2024.

Is CAT 2026 registration higher or lower than previous years?

Registrations peaked around 3.29–3.30 lakh in 2023–2024, then fell to 2.95 lakh in 2025. Interim CAT 2026 figures suggest a possible rebound, but this requires the official confirmed number to state definitively.

Is state-wise or city-wise CAT 2026 registration data officially available?

No. IIM Indore publishes the list of test cities but not a state- or city-wise breakdown of registrant counts. Figures of that kind circulating online are not official.